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Special feature

Travelling in Pursuit of a Tangible Past: Historical Relic Exploration (fanggu) as an Emerging Mode of Heritage Community in China

Hui Zhang
p. 31-41

Abstract

This study examines the contemporary cultural phenomenon of fanggu 訪古, or “historical relic exploration,” which emerged in China early in the twenty-first century and has gained increasing prominence on social media. While echoing traditional literati travel practices, fanggu is more directly shaped by modern heritage tourism and state-driven heritage-making policies. Surrounding these practices is a complex cultural nexus involving online subcultural communities, local conservation groups, heritage tourism enterprises, and professional scholars. This project draws on in-depth interviews with key practitioners, engaged academics, corporate actors, as well as digital ethnography focused on online communities and social media discourse. It investigates how these diverse actors collaboratively produce and circulate heritage knowledge. Applying Michel Maffesoli’s theoretical notion of “neo-tribalism,” I argue that the dynamic interactions within the fanggu cultural nexus have given rise to innovative, multimodal forms of heritage engagement that integrate cognitive inquiry with affective investment, thereby fostering a new mode of heritage community in contemporary China.

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Editor’s notes

Manuscript received on 5 May 2025. Accepted on 28 October 2025.

Excerpt

Full text document will be published online on March 2027.

Outline

Research methodology
The formation of the contemporary fanggu community: A brief history
The cultural nexus of fanggu
The scope of the fanggu community
Online fanggu communities
Cultural tourism agencies
Conclusion

First lines

In October 2023, a digitally generated map of China’s heritage sites went viral across social media. Featuring locational data for nearly 10,000 relic sites – all densely arranged for display on compact mobile phone screens, the map looked visually arresting (Figure 1). Bullet-screen comments full of envy swarmed all over the video map, crying out things like “I am dying to visit all these sites!” What makes this labour-intensive map project particularly noteworthy is that it was not done by a state-sponsored institution but was created by a young heritage enthusiast from the post-1990s generation, Wu Yunjie 吳運傑 – known online as Mr Heritage (Yichan Jun 遺產君). Wu’s cartographic enterprise was not limited to desk-based research; it was underpinned by extensive fieldwork conducted across nearly 30 provincial level administrative units. Through this process, Wu documented more than 2,000 historical sites and hundreds of museums. In an interview with China Central Television (CCTV), Wu e...

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References

Bibliographical reference

Hui Zhang, Travelling in Pursuit of a Tangible Past: Historical Relic Exploration (fanggu) as an Emerging Mode of Heritage Community in ChinaChina Perspectives, 144 | 2026, 31-41.

Electronic reference

Hui Zhang, Travelling in Pursuit of a Tangible Past: Historical Relic Exploration (fanggu) as an Emerging Mode of Heritage Community in ChinaChina Perspectives [Online], 144 | 2026, Online since 01 March 2027, connection on 18 May 2026. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/20328; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/15zul

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About the author

Hui Zhang

Hui Zhang is Lecturer at the Institute of Anthropology, School of Social Development, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China (hzhang@soci.ecnu.edu.cn).

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Copyright

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) may be subject to specific use terms.

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